Current communication network and service management systems only handle individual services, such as VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network), VPLS (Virtual Private LAN Service), MPLS/BGP VPN (Multi-Protocol Label Switching/Border Gateway Protocol Virtual Private Network), also sometimes referred to Layer 3 VPN or VPRN (Virtual Private Routed Network), PW (pseudo-wire), and so on. Although these current management solutions may be suitable for simple VPNs using a single technology, complex applications to provide so-called “triple play” services, for instance, typically involve service providers having their services span over multiple management domains and/or technologies.
Even with service grouping, it is still difficult to define the effects of problems in one or more services on others of the same group, since conventional management systems do not provide a complete view of interconnections between communication services. Problems in an “upstream” service could affect some or all “downstream” services, depending on redundancy configurations in the service provider network, though the extent to which problems can propagate between connected services cannot easily be determined using conventional network management techniques and systems. A management system for a communication network, for example, might be aware of connectivity between individual service sites which support a communication service, but does not take into account the connectivity from all sites of a given service to others as a whole.
In addition, existing network/service management systems do not provide any form of inter-service correlation in terms of monitoring, diagnostics, or service assurance.
Thus, there remains a need for improved techniques for representing composite communication services and diagnosing events affecting such services.